Beneath
by aphtrashbin
Summary: Arthur is a poor fisherman who is trying to go about his life, since he is living after the Global Meltdown, a world-wide apocalypse resulting from climate change. His life changes when he meets a interesting merman hybrid named Alfred, and of course, gets tangled in his life with the involvement of a harpoon. Mermaid(ish) USUK (smut in later chap)
1. Chapter 1

The world really changed in the few hundred years since the Global Climate Meltdown. It was hard to look at history textbooks, and see things that Arthur would never be able to know. He had been born on the remaining lands in Europe, in British controlled territory. He had moved to the coastline, before he traveled to the United States, and though it was dangerous, his new home was also generally more profitable than working further inland. Life was okay- not great, but okay- and just barely so.

Arthur was a typical worker - he was a fisherman. It wasn't /bad/ work, nor tedious as it had been years ago... in fact; it was rather easy with all the new gadgets. But Arthur still preferred the relaxing tempo of old-style fishing, and on his days off made sure to take advantage of the sea and the docks.

He was fishing one day, aimless over the waters of what had once been a city, and all of a sudden, a head popped up on the side of his boat, with a headful of soaking wet blonde hair.

It wasn't that working in the States or on the Coast was dangerous- not the land portion of it, anyway. When humanity was faced with rising oceans, a new species of enemy rose to the surface. _Merpeople_. Many humans knew how they and their kin would survive, even in the future- their predication about the world meant that they would return to the water. And so, they bred with the creatures below the surface all this time.

Arthur knew these people, the crossbreeds, these _mutts_ , were heartless monsters, as were the mer themselves. Hence the surprise and horror upon actually seeing one with his own two eyes, shaking its hair out and laughing. Why was it laughing? Was it going to eat him?

 _It_ turned towards him and looked surprised, before waving. "Hi!" He exclaimed, giving a toothy smile, Arthur growing cold at the sight of those teeth, sharp and deadly, able to break bone in a single bite. "Are you a human?"

"U-uh…I?" He nodded. "Yeah, I am… and you're…?" He coughed.

The _mutt_ smiled at him, seeming to feign genuine kindness and sincerity. "Well, I thought that would be fairly obvious. I'm a merman. Well…" He hummed. "Not yet…I'm only an F2." The merman in front of him lifted one foot out of the water, but instead of toes, he had a long elongated fin. "But! I'm Alfred F. Jones!" He grinned, kindly enough. "I'm jus' looking for food! Humans seem to have it a lot!" He laughed, and Arthur glared at this "Alfred."

"There's no food for you here." He said, irritable. "I'm certain you get plenty, so leave me be, will you?" Arthur grumbled, and Alfred only laughed at him.

"Man! You're a feisty one arentcha?" He laughed again, and nodded. "Right, right. You know that I cooooould help you with your net?" He seemed so annoyingly happy, and that put Arthur on edge.

"Go away." Arthur said, ignoring the twist in his gut when the easy smile left this golden boy's face, and he nodded, slipping below the surface and seemingly disappearing.

Arthur went back to boating, trying to get away from where he had encountered this merman, before he settled down about a mile away and got to fishing. He saw something large in the water, and assumed it was maybe a swordfish, perhaps a seal or something else, and licked his lips at the thought of proper meat, and so, harpooned it straight through.

The line jerked, and all of a sudden, the merman from earlier burst through the surface, screaming like a lunatic, writhing and gripping the harpoon with fear and confusion.

Arthur stared in shock while the merman was presumably dying from it, and so Arthur finally jumped into action when horrified and scared blue eyes met him, clearly begging for this to not be happening.

And Arthur pulled him aboard his ship despite his struggling, the merman's crotch covered with a pair of skin-tight shorts, the harpoon sticking straight through his leg, the man crying out in a combination of shock, terror, and agony. Arthur held him down with his foot on the merman's stomach, and pulled out the harpoon, making blood gush and Alfred scream.

However, instead of lifting it up to stab him again, like Alfred had prepared for, closing his eyes and fisting his hands near his face, the human threw it aside, and slapped on a bandage, and rolled Alfred around it, bandaging the wound and applying pressure to it, stopping the bleeding still with human tech.

Arthur looked at him with worry, uncertain what the merman would do now that he was safe.

But as it turned out, he did nothing- it cowered in fright, afraid of him, the one who had put him in serious danger and gotten him out of it. Bright blue eyes stared without actually looking at anything around him.

"Ah…your name was…. Alfred, right?" Arthur said, trying to catch his attention and avoid looking at his utterly buff body, his abs ripped to shreds. Arthur had to resist swooning at the sight of his muscles moving fluidly as the merman sat up, blinking rapidly as he realized he wasn't dying- he was mostly fine, no longer bleeding out.

"W-what the hell?" He asked in a voice quiet from sudden fright. "You…you like, fu…fucking!" He gasped. "You harpooned me!" He yelled at the human, regaining some of his voice as he attempted to stand in his (unfortunately, righteous) anger, Arthur stepping back suddenly, but Alfred fell back down as he gasped in pain, gripping his injured leg. "Shit…you…. fucking…shit." He gave up trying to explain himself, quietly laying on his side in shock, blinking as he curled up.

"Ah…well." Arthur coughed. "I had told you not to follow, and I, uh, _assumed_ that you were a large fish, perhaps a dolphin or something else of the like." At least he had the decency to feel bad about injuring this merman, an F2. Most humans would have killed him then and there. Meat was meat, after all…

Except, the merman was staring at Arthur with distinct disdain, and fright that was beyond the typical animalistic instinct. He was human enough to be offended, and able to feel fear, and anger, and upset. And Arthur couldn't kill him. That was why Arthur had bandaged the monster rather than stab it through the middle with his harpoon.

He wondered if that was the right choice, as Alfred slowly attempted to sit up again.

The merman winced as he held his leg, looking up to Arthur with a face that clearly begrudged him for having injured him like this.

"If you were going to stab me, at least have the decency to kill me in the first go." Alfred muttered, gritting his teeth in pain.

Arthur frowned, not liking Alfred's ungratefulness. "Pardon? I just saved your life, ingrate." He muttered.

Alfred's eyes widened comically. "Saved? You fucking _harpooned me!_ I'm dead the moment I get back in the water! You don't think that other large predators won't go, _mm, yum, tasty snack_?" He laughed, clearly a bit unhinged, but rightfully so. "But sure, I'm ungrateful!" He laid back down, breathing hard. "Fuck. That's nuts, human."

"…. Arthur." The man admitted. "My name is Arthur." The human looked the merman straight into frightened blue eyes. "And, I'm not going to dump you back in the water like that." He timidly revealed. "I didn't mean to harpoon, uh, you." He smiled, nervous as the merman made a face at him, and Arthur gulped. "I'm sorry that I did."

Alfred looked at him strangely, before he laughed a bit. "Damn. Alright." He shook his head, trying to collect himself. "Alright. Alright. Arthur, then." He murmured, shakily trying to stand, and balancing himself on the railing of Arthur's ship. "Damn. It would be hard enough to stand even if I wasn't injured." He muttered, referring undoubtedly to his lack of experience with walking.

"I…I won't make you go back in the water, if that is what you were worried about." Arthur continued now that the merman had seemingly calmed down. "I-I'm perfectly open to the idea of being your host until such time comes that you may swim again without fear of being eaten." Arthur smiled a bit. "I mean, if that's okay with you…I don't want to uh, frighten you." He nodded, hoping he had made his point.

Alfred blinked, and nodded, albeit reluctantly, before laying back down. "Alright…I…I mean, sure." He agreed quietly. "Thanks…."

Arthur nodded. "Come on then, we should at least get you marginally more comfortable than my deck." He said, awkward that he now had a literal human-merman hybrid on his ship. An F2, only two generations away from a full human…the feeling was strange, and accentuated by the fact that he had nearly killed him.

Alfred nodded, with some distrust as he stood, and Arthur helped support him as they went over to a seating area on the fishing boat. "Stay here." Arthur instructed. "I'll need to move you down into the cabin once we get to shore….but for now, you can sit out here."

The hybrid nodded, looking out onto the horizon of the ocean wistfully. "Sure." He muttered. "Yeah, I suppose I'll stay here…"

And Arthur left him there, the merman sitting on the seats, soaking his cushions and closing his eyes to rest. Arthur noticed after a bit that the man with fins for feet had ultimately fallen asleep.

XXXXX

Alfred woke when he realized that the boat was no longer being steered, and was careening wildly. "Shit!" He shouted, listening to the songs of sirens around him, and realized Arthur- the human who this ship belonged to- was in the thrall of them. Alfred jumped to his feet; shouting in the mer language for them to stop, stop, trying to regain control of the ship.

Thankfully, the sirens stopped, leaving Arthur be as they directed their clicking and musical language to Alfred, questioning why he was on board the human ship.

"Ugh. This stupid human shot me." He explained. "Sorry. I'll get him out of here." Alfred said, leaning over the side. "He offered me a place to heal, I'm very sorry." Alfred said, apologetically, letting the enthralled human cling to him dumbly as he attracted him with his language.

The sirens nodded, and dove beneath the waters as Alfred gripped Arthur, taking him to the wheel and sitting him down, before he turned the ship away from the shores-which, upon closer examination, were the nurseries. No wonder Arthur had been treated as a threat so quickly. He had been fishing in the nursing grounds.

Alfred snickered. "Man. I can only imagine what kinda hell you'd be in right now if you'd have killed me earlier." He snorted at the thought, and started to boat away, sighing quietly as he looked back to the place where he had spent a part of his life growing up.

It wasn't even before Arthur awoke from his entrancement, that Alfred's life somehow got worse.

"Alfred!" He heard a familiar voice calling to him, and the merman whipped his head at the sound. It was his half-brother.

"Matthew!" He shouted back to him. "Jesus, Matt! You shouldn't be out here!"

The little merman was swimming furiously in attempt to keep pace with the ship, however, the little merchild had no chance in actually catching him. ..but he had no chance of survival if he didn't.

The boy was barely old enough to swim! He couldn't survive out here, not when he was this young. The merchild couldn't even speak yet! Last Alfred had seen him, the boy had been newly born of his mother's mermaids purse. And it had only been a little while since that time, so Alfred wouldn't be entirely surprised if Matthew only knew his name and a few basic words in their language, explaining why his calls didn't arouse Arthur's attention.

Alfred stopped the boat, and jumped in the water, hoping that nothing would kill him as he swam over to where the young merchild struggled to keep afloat in the open water. Alfred quickly got to him, and wrapped an arm around his tiny torso, the boy's small hands gripping Alfred's necklace, making Alfred laugh a bit. "Oh, you." He said, nuzzling the small tuft of blonde hair on the boy's head. "You're not able to go back now! I'll have to watch you!" He held him close, gently hugging him, letting the boy's tail rub against Alfred's belly with affection. "C'mon. I'll find a way to care for you…I promise."

The boy looked to Alfred with big purple eyes, gently clicking Alfred's name in their shared language, and Alfred chuckled. "You're already following after mom." He said, climbing on board the ship with one arm and his legs, as best he could anyway. It was a bit of a struggle, but soon enough, Alfred was panting on board the ship with Matthew, his F5 half brother, who was now looking around the human vessel with too much curiosity for his own good. Alfred laughed, and got up, still holding the tot close to him.

"We'll take care of each other, right Matt?" Alfred asked him as he held the boy, dropping a bucket into the water to fill it with water.

"Yes!" Matthew chirped joyfully, clearly happy at having someone he recognized around him again, someone he knew and would care for him.

"Thata boy!" Alfred laughed, taking to the steering wheel area, where Arthur laid, still entranced, and plopped the bucket with the F5 child in it down to the floor, and ensuring it wouldn't tip over before he went back to the wheel, going back to getting them the fuck outta dodge.

The sirens who guarded the nursery wouldn't miss Matthew, Alfred suspected. That was because merchildren who left never returned- if they did, they would be killed. It was more of a mechanism to ensure that merchildren who outgrew the nursery wouldn't return to loaf around, but it killed plenty of overly curious merchildren all the same.

Alfred didn't mind it though. He liked this connection to his mysterious mother, even though Matt was only a half-sibling.

"Yeah…we'll take care of each other." Alfred murmured, gripping the wheel a bit tighter as he directed them to safer waters to wait for Arthur's reawakening.

XXXXX

A/N: Me: guiltlessly posts another AU. Sorry guys. I love this au…..interesting pseudo mer science!

The whole F2 + F5 things are things to tell u how many generations they are away from the species they descended from. As time goes on, u will come to understand why some huamsn are having interspecies sex, and others aren't.

Alfred is an _f2._ He descends from an F1, his father, and a full-blooded mermaid, his mom. He didn't come from two F1s b/c most interspecies female mer hybrids are infertile! This is according to Haldane's rule of genetics, altho I kinda switched it so that the males (w/ heterochromatic genes) are the fertile ones b/c I wanted Alfred to be able to reproduce!

Which will of course be important later!

Matthew is an F5; he's 5 generations from full human, descended from an F4 male and a full-blooded mermaid, who is also Alfred's mom! Matthew's generation, the F5 will be the first generation that can mate w/ each other, since the F5 females will be fertile as well!

Imma just say that there are basically 7 generations gaping humans and Merpeople, so there! The tail is only a trait in F4 + beyond for certain, but certain F3's can inherit one. Mostly tho, the tail isn't fully formed and most F3s born w/ one don't survive long since they cannot swim well enough with it. Alfred has fin-like feet, and gills he can use for short amounts of time (Up to two hours!) He can hold his breath for similar lengths of time, so if he wanted to stay underwater for as long as he could, he could probably go 6-7 hours in total.

Matthew, on the other hand, as an adult, will have a fully-functioning set of gills and lungs, meaning he can breathe for an indefinite amount of time both in and out of the water. However, he's only a few months old!

On that, I suspect that Merpeople + particularly the hybrids would have a cross between human development and mer development. Like most other species, Merpeople don't need very long to develop fully, but they still take a good deal of time (having large brains like humans, but not quite as large as ours so as to have a shortened development period) hybrids who are closer to humans take longer to develop as a fetus and longer to develop after being born, and the closer they get to mer, the faster they are born and mature. Matthew, being closer to mer than human, is already talking some even though he's only been born very recently!

Enough of my blabbering about the potential genetics/traits of the Merpeople and mer/human hybrids. Thanks for reading, and I hope u enjoyed it!


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred had stopped the boat, and anchored them in waters he had already confirmed as safe, and had made a scent line around the boat to ensure continued protection, when Arthur woke up again.

"A-ah…?" He dazedly looked around, and Alfred went over to him, grinning as he pat his back.

"Nice to see you back among those in control of themselves, Arthur!" He snickered, and the human blushed furiously as he rapidly got to his feet, only to wobble a considerable amount once he was standing, Alfred kindly giving him an arm to balance on.

"What happened?" He asked, clutching his head, obviously feeling a bit strange still. Alfred had been informed coming out of a siren's thrall was sort of like having a really bad hangover.

"Sirens, dude." He laughed. "I cannot believe you went to the coast! Imagine if I hadn't stopped them from calling you right over the side of your boat! Those guys have rather large teeth." And Alfred smiled to accentuate his point, his own teeth far larger, and more menacing than a regular humans, having a larger jaw to accommodate more sharp teeth, having two rows on both his upper and lower jaw, all sharp and ready to rip and tear flesh. "Sirens, well, they have three sets of teeth, but only one shows while they sing." Alfred snorted. "They're like…the meanest shits in the whole fucking mer world." He turned thoughtful. "Well, maybe not true. Deep-sea mer are generally really scary too! Some varieties of them can be full on cannibals!"

Arthur was staring at him, hearing at him and yet not understanding. Alfred patted his back, and sat him down on the bench available by the wheel. "In short, you got wrecked." He snickered again. "Almost got eaten by some vindictive sirens, but I convinced them not to eat you. So, you're here now, having been taken from the shore by me, in accordance with my agreement with them." He nodded again, and laughed as Arthur just closed his eyes and groaned.

"Ffuckin' mermaids." He slurred, rubbing his eyes with his fingers, "Fuck." Alfred laughed at his eloquence, or perhaps his lack thereof.

"Damn. You are a natural born _talker_." Alfred said, standing and stretching. "Either way! It's getting dark out, and I never see humans out on the open water at night. Presumably, there's a reason."

Arthur looked surprised as he pointed this out. "You…you figured that out, _how_?" The human looked baffled, and Alfred rolled his eyes.

"Duuuuh, we're fucking predators." He showed his teeth again. " _Of course_ we're able to tell different patterns of other species…though I suppose, you're kinda our species? Dunno. What would our scientific name be? _Homo mermaidius?_ I don't fucking know." He laughed. "It's a mericle I can fucking speak English, do you understand? I mean, like- I speak fucking _mermaid._ " Alfred laughed heartily. "I mean, it's like, the languages of two entirely different fucking _species!_ "

Arthur threw a cushion at the talkative merman's head, making him laugh in surprise. "Please, will you cease the chatter?" He said, irritable. "I understand now. But, you're correct- I should not be on the open water at night. I would break curfew. I need to drop you off- and what is that?" Arthur said, his voice suddenly growing far louder and increasing in pitch suddenly, pointing suddenly to the small blonde hair poking out of the bucket for a split second before it dropped back in, afraid of the human's outburst.

"Oh." Alfred laughed, picking up the bucket and holding it against his chest with a grin. "This is Matt. He's my half-brother. You, uh, kinda raided his nursery, and he followed me out here." Alfred scratched the side of his head. "Yeah. He's too young to be out on his own. So, I'm kinda obligated to take care of him." Alfred smiled at him, hopeful. "But, I, uh, wanna remind you that he's not the big problem. The big problem is: how are you gonna get out of here?"

Arthur paused, and looked worried. "Well, since I might break curfew in returning to shore, they're going to probably inspect my ship…meaning, you cannot be on it." Arthur said, biting his lip. "So, we'll have to find a small island or something of that sort to put you on until I can return for you in the morning…"

Alfred was uncertain about that…if Arthur didn't return, Alfred and Matthew were dead meat…however…there was no place close enough for them to go otherwise… So he agreed, albeit with hesitance. "Please don't leave us out there…" Alfred asked quietly, shaking on it with Arthur.

"Do not worry. I will try and be back quickly in the morning." Arthur said confidently.

They came upon a cropping of rocks, with some shelter and space for Alfred and Matthew to rest comfortably, before Alfred got off, and let Arthur sail away, holding Matthew in his bucket.

He watched the place on the horizon where the boat had long since disappeared into far longer after the sun had set.

XXXXX

It was a downright bear to deal with customs that night. Arthur barely got a wink of sleep in the night as he dealt with the men searching his ship and inquiring why he had been gone so late. Arthur simply explained that he had gone too far out, and it had been hard finding his way back to the coastline.

Once he finally got home, the sun had been just a sliver in the east, and he had thought it would do no harm for him to sleep another hour or so… But, it would be about 6 more before he woke again, and the sun was now high in the sky, the temperature rising as Arthur absently realized his "obligation" would undoubtedly think himself abandoned.

"Shit!" Arthur cried, quickly getting up and getting back into his fishing gear, bringing new things to hide Alfred and the new boy, Matthew in, before he took out on the water, attempting to locate where he had left the two stranded. Guilt ate at his core, knowing that the rocks, black as they were, would undoubtedly be scalding hot, as well as the fact the very air around him seemed to boil his blood.

It was past mid-day by the time Arthur reached the location of the merman he had left, and Arthur realized that the hybrid was partially hidden under the rocks. What was not hidden…was very much sunburned. Arthur hopped down after anchoring his ship, calling out to the merman in worry. The merchild was screeching at him in the mer language, and Arthur apologized, picking up the bucket and taking him on the ship, getting the sunburnt child to safety before he returned to the larger man.

"Alfred?" He asked, unsure if the man- dried out and sunburnt, as he was- was even alive still. He heard a shaky gasp, blue eyes opening to look at him with confusion, and Arthur nodded, quickly trying to get him onto his feet to get him onto the boat. He'd put him in the cabin, and soak him for hours if he needed to. Alfred looked like a human that had third degree burns, for God's sake. Of course Arthur's heart hurt to look at him like this. No person, no animal even, deserved to feel the way Alfred's body looked at the moment.

He struggled, and his heart ached more as he heard Alfred's quiet whines, the hybrid struggling to his feet and trying to work with Arthur. The human got him on board, and into the cabin, turning on full A/C, and grabbing buckets of water to pour on him, whilst the merchild screeched in his bucket, trying to get to Alfred. Arthur looked at him helplessly, uncertain of what the child wanted, but it was made clear enough when "Matt" knocked over the bucket and got closer to his brother.

"Oh." Arthur said, breathlessly, tired from carrying Alfred aboard his ship and making 6 trips from the cabin to the side of the boat to get water to dump on Alfred.

"Nngnh." Alfred groaned, cracking his eyes open, clearly in pain. "A-ah…you…you came….ha…." He grinned a bit, and Arthur nodded.

"I'm…I'm sorry. I had issues with security." He murmured, trying to cool down the merman some more, while Alfred laid there, a bit dazed, clearly in pain. His hands found the boy on his chest, and he smiled a bit, hugging the boy close.

"Ahh… Sorry Mattie." He murmured, closing his eyes. "Don' worry. I'll be fine. Jus' need to cool off…and then get wet again…" He nodded, and Arthur complied, sitting with him while the hybrid slowly tried to regain himself.

About an hour later, Arthur had occupied himself with reading with Alfred on the floor, when Alfred slowly sat up, shivering. "Okay. The air can be…turned back to normal." He said, quivering a bit. "I am still wet…but it helped." He slowly got to his feet, laughing a bit. "Man…you seem to like seeing me near-dead…and then making me less so!" He wobbled as he grabbed the bucket, still holding Matthew, and Arthur understood.

"Oh! Does…does the boy need more water?" He asked, taking the bucket. "Sit down. I'll grab you both some…" He said, trying to be helpful now that he had put these two in another near-death scenario.

Alfred looked surprised, but he sat down, his hair the color of a wheat field after having been sun-bleached. He was a very handsome man, even if he was horribly burned. Arthur immediately thought himself awful for thinking that, because Alfred was probably in a lot of pain, and it was directly because of Arthur's course of actions.

Blue eyes watched him curiously when he came back in with two buckets of water, putting one down for Matthew and handing the other to Alfred, who gladly dumped it on himself, smiling a bit with the relief of water. "Thanks." He mumbled again, leaning against the wall, holding Matthews bucket close to his body. "…I'm sorry." He murmured. "You got in trouble…right?"

Arthur nodded. "Don't mind that." He muttered. "I'd be in more trouble had you not intervened with my fishing in the area with the sirens." He told Alfred. "Plus, I've nearly killed you. Twice." Arthur rubbed his temples. "And you saved me now as well… I can't well leave you miserable. IS there a place I can leave you…which isn't on the open ocean?" He asked, quiet.

Alfred hummed. "Well, when I was growing up, my dad, who was an F1, lived in a cave near a human town. It's got two entrances- one from the water, and a hidden one on land. That would be a good bet…" He nodded. "Well, the only thing is, I left it with mom when I was still pretty young…" He admitted, saddened.

"Do you remember which town it was close to?" Arthur asked, curious now, taking out a map, and letting Alfred look at it with some thoughtfulness rested on his face, as well as something else folded into a few frown lines on the sides of his face.

However, he quickly lit up again. "It's here!" He said, pointing at a place on the coastline where there was a large cliff indicated on the map, along with a bunch of rocks at the base of that cliff. There was a lighthouse, but that place had been abandoned for years.

"Really?" Arthur asked, looking at its location, the lighthouse being perhaps 10, 15 miles from where he lived, but Alfred nodded, sighing.

"Yeah…Dad worked at the lighthouse…" He murmured. "That's where I grew up…" The merman gently held Matthew closer. "You'll like it there, Matt…. I'm sure it hasn't changed much since then…"

Arthur didn't comment, but Alfred simply went quiet, the boy trilling quietly in the mer tongue that Arthur couldn't understand, let alone speak. The green-eyed human wondered as he went over to their cave, what happened there.

He had some conflicting information- apparently Alfred had grown up there with his father, who was an F1- but he had left with his mother. As far as Arthur knew, full-blooded mer were not particularly the mothering type, as shown by how Matthew was at a nursery and now was with Alfred, rather than with their shared mother…so, what had happened?

Alfred looked to the horizon, looking contemplative, but Arthur simply started going to that direction, keeping the map out for navigation assistance while Alfred seemed to fall asleep looking at the horizon, which with some time, became the cliff.

"Wake up." Arthur instructed quickly. "I cannot go farther in with this. You'll need to swim."

Alfred grinned, and nodded, grabbing Matthew from his bucket. "Do you happen to have a blanket?" He asked, curious, and Arthur obliged, giving him one without knowing what he planned to do with it. Alfred jumped into the water without a second of though, both Matthew and the blanket in his hands. He laughed when Matthew shrieked in his small voice, and Arthur watched as the merman gently wrapped up the child with the wet blanket. "Arthur! Meet me at the lighthouse tonight!" He shouted up at him, before he disappeared under the water, and soon even the shadow that told Arthur where he was had disappeared into the waves as well.

Arthur had to admit…he looked very handsome like that, with his eyes crinkled as he gently wrapped up the boy, looking fatherly, and strong. He was strong enough to keep his torso completely out of the water, using only his legs to swim, though that had to hurt him because of the sunburns, which looked much, much better after some water soaking back into the skin, and the wound on his thigh.

He looked almost majestic, even. Not like the monster that Arthur had come to think of his kind. He wondered what Alfred would do now. He wondered what _he_ would do now…The merman was safe, in all likelihood…he had no more need of Arthur, and his presence would now, inevitably, fade…. even though Arthur was just growing accustomed to the idea of having him on his ship. He was funny, and generally a happy thing, and of course, had actually saved his life.

But Arthur could get out of it right now, if he simply didn't go to the lighthouse that night. Nothing bad would happen to Alfred- he was safe there… But Arthur had a choice to make, and he would do it while he actually did his job, fishing.

XXXXX

Alfred had been right. Nothing had changed since the day he had left this place with his mother. He smiled as he saw the water-cradle still was there, and told Matthew it was his lucky day. "Mom got this from a nursery when I was just born." He told Matthew. "Since my skin, unlike my dad's, would dry out with time." He nuzzled the boy's nose, before he set him in it, the cradle holding in enough water to keep Matthew happy, but he would be able to keep his head afloat just fine.

"Whooooa!" the boy smiled, trilling at Alfred. "Sooo coooll!" He said, excitedly moving in the cradle. "I's like the place!" He said, laughing.

"The nursery?" Alfred asked for clarification, and the boy giggled excitedly, nodding. "Well, this place is better, 'cause there's no sirens here!" He said, twirling the mobile above the cradle, a personal touch from his father.

"Was' that?" Matthew asked, looking at it with confusion, a small hand reaching up for it but being unable to touch it.

"That's a mobile." Alfred explained. "My dad grew up on land, he was an F1." He grinned. "He couldn't even swim that well!" But his laughter died quickly, making Matthew look at him confusedly. "A mobile is something human babies look at…it's supposed to make it easier for them to sleep." The man sighed. "I dunno if it works though. I matured faster than human children, undoubtedly. My dad kept the mobile there though…it was sentimental, more than anything else, I think."

Matthew nodded, taking in the information quietly. "Ah…Where is he?" He asked, interested. "Your dad?"

Alfred's smile crumpled entirely. "He…he's dead, Matt. He died a long time ago." Matthew trilled, singing quietly in sadness, and Alfred smiled, joining in with the boy's prepubescent song, barely strong enough to get any true emotion in it. But…as they sang together, Alfred's song became stronger, filled with grief, and he mourned now since he could not then, when it had happened.

"Why are sad now?" Matthew asked, gently gripping Alfred, and Alfred scooped him up into his arms.

"I had forgotten what it was like…living with a human." He murmured. "The man, Arthur. He reminds me of Dad. He's not him, certainly. Dad never _smelled_ like that, for christ's sake…but…his manners. His _humanness_ …that's dad."

"Smelled like what, Al?" Matthew asked, blinking a bit with confusion, his brow furrowing. "He just smells of man to me."

Alfred grinned a bit. "You're too young to get that, dummy." He said, ruffling his hair and hugging him close, before setting him down in the crib once again, subsiding his tears for the moment, forcibly directing his thought on Arthur as he climbed out of the water entirely.

The human had smelled strange. Alfred knew he himself had probably just reached sexual maturity, and that he would possibly start being attracted to mates. After all, the ovulation period for mer would begin as winter came around. Meaning, mating season would start a bit before, so that male mer and male hybrids would have time to fight for the right to reproduce. He would have to see.

His mother was respected in the ocean, but he didn't know much about _why_ except for a deep feeling in his bones that it wouldn't be he who would be scrambling for a mate. He had a feeling deep inside himself that mates would be crawling to him- why that was, was another question entirely.

But, Alfred mostly shoved the thoughts away, and turned his attention to cleaning the place up, to be more acceptable to live in for as long as they would need to.

XXXXX

After he finished cleaning, he went up the stairs, and entered the lighthouse, before climbing the secret ladder to the top, and descending the staircase inside the lighthouse. "Man…dad couldn't have made a short cut, couldn't he?" Alfred muttered to himself, reaching the bottom, before he sat down, looking at the fading sun in the sky.

" _Mommy?" He had asked her, looking at where she lay, her tail long and elegant, draped over the water's edge, her torso on the shore, her body guarding where his father laid. "Is…is daddy…?"_

 _Her head whipped around, her blue eyes wide, and she had gasped. Upon looking at her, Alfred saw her tears, and he knew then. His father was most certainly gone. He choked up, clutching at the shirt he had on, stained with the blood of his father._

" _A-alfred? My child?" She asked, disbelieving. "I saw you…you laid there, slain as well." She murmured, gesturing him closer as she pulled herself further onto the shore with some effort._

" _Dad…dad told me to lay still. He said to keep my eyes shut." He said, shaking. "He…he coated me with his…his blood…" Alfred stuttered, not really used to using the mer language. Dad had always wanted him to be able to speak both, and so English had come first._

 _She smiled, her blue eyes watering. "That stupid, clever man." She murmured, pulling her son close. "Your father is gone, I know you're old enough to know that. But…he knew how to make it seem like you were dead, but were truly still alive. Your father was brave…and you're alive because of it." She clutched him to her body, and then pulled away, tilting his head upwards to look into her beautiful blue eyes, as deep a blue as the sparkling oceans that Alfred had only ever seen from a boat. "Listen to me now, child. Can you swim?" She asked._

 _Alfred nodded. "I…I can." He agreed, nervous._

" _Then you must be very brave." His mother kissed his forehead. "You and I must go now. I will have a friend take care of your father's body. But you must be brave. We are going to hunt those who killed him."_

" _But…they were mer!" Alfred gasped, surprised. "Surely…surely they didn't know?"_

 _His mother's eyes narrowed, her pupils going large in her eyes. "Oh, they knew precisely what, but more,_ _ **who**_ _he was." She growled. "But they will regret doing this. They will regret taking away my mate, and your father." She held his hand tight. "You must keep up with me, Alfred. I cannot take care of you once we start this mission. Will you help me, my child?" She asked. "My firstborn?"_

 _And the boy, then only 8, nodded slowly. "I will." He swore quietly. "I…I want them to pay for this…Dad wasn't hurting anyone… He never did anything wrong."_

 _And then his mother kissed his cheek. "Then we must go now, my firstborn, my precious heir." Her rough hands gently ruffled his blonde hair. "Let us depart from this place that reeks of death." And she slid back into the water, Alfred getting to his feet, unsteady, and removing his shirt._

 _The boy took one look back, to where his father's body lay, slain by mer, before he stared into the water, where he knew that he would not be able to return to this place from. Alfred took a deep breath, and then dove into the water, to not look back again._

XXXXX

A/N: And Alfred's backstory is underway!

Alfred's mother is an open ocean mermaid. She is fast, and has an enormous amount of stamina, which she has in common with her first son, Alfred, and will have in common with her second son, Matthew. She hunts large game and is not a naturally caring mer. But more on that later! There will be a deeper explanation of mer gender and sex next chapter.

On the topic of different types of mer, there are several different niches in the ocean that Merpeople can fill. Alfred + his relatives are all descended from Merpeople who live in the open ocean, and they are migrants that can go enormous distances. However, there are tons of other varieties, including the sirens.

Sirens are a special sort of merperson who live in caves and along coastlines. They have developed the ability to sing (which is an integral part of mer communication, similar to whales) into a whole new purpose- enchanting humans to kill them. Generally, they don't leave their assigned location, and act as mer guards. They can build illusions of themselves to the humans they enchant, so that they look like beautiful women, but in actuality, they can be any gender of mer (though traditionally they are certain type of female, but more on that later, again!) The sirens that lived in the nursery were assigned to work their to prevent humans from finding the place where Merpeople birth + raise their children.

(Alfred was a special case. Traditionally, Merpeople do not personally raise their own young, however, his father- an F1- was a bit more sentimental and found value in raising his child.)

There are tons of other types that will be revealed as the story progresses!

On the topic of sexual maturity- humans reach it at a p young age, but mer typically take a lot longer, so again, it's a mixing of how humans work (having sexual capacity for reproduction at young ages, typically in the teenage years) and how my fictional mer species work (who typically only are able to reproduce in their mid-20s in human cycles.) Similarly, Alfred references a mating season. Unlike full mer, he will be able to reproduce at any time, a trait leftover from his human side, however, its seen only as socially acceptable for hybrids to mate at the same time as their full-blooded counterparts. Part of the reason mer are only sexually viable in their 20s is mostly because they live so long. Alfred's mother is upwards of two hundred years old, (though you shouldn't ask the lady her age, ever).

A final note is how Alfred's mother references how Alfred is her "heir", and her "Firstborn". This will definitely come into play! There is also a reason that someone attempted to kill him, and killed his father, which has to do with his status as well.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions feel free to ask!


	3. Chapter 3

Getting out of town wasn't entirely difficult. He was in on time, with a suitable amount of fish. He took a day off tomorrow so that he wouldn't have trouble, before he went to his home. Once he was in town, curfew wasn't entirely regulated. Arthur was able to get his car, and head out to the lighthouse, which was about a 30 minute drive west from where he lived on the coast.

Arthur lived in what used to be France, but now was England's territory. A good amount of land had been lost due to rising waters, including much of England. Those whose families had lived in London- like his- had been forced to leave the country. He had been born after the fact, though…long after the fact- he was only 23 years old, and the waters levels had been constant now for 40 years.

He didn't know much about what had happened, all he knew was the fact that some people had become intertwined with the mer faster than others. Arthur wasn't entirely certain how many generations were possible, if this had been going on for 200 years. Matthew was a F5…so, 5 generations. His human ancestors had to have mated with the mer before the water levels were stable, back when they were constantly rising. It made sense, of course. That was when the largest amount of interspecies breeding took place. He also knew, from his history textbooks that it was far more acceptable to mate with them back at that time.

Arthur looked to the sky, and he smiled as he saw he was going to be lucky tonight- they could see the moon and stars. It was hard these days to actually see them… at night it was always cloudy and dim. But, Arthur supposed that was the gift the humans of the industrial era left his generation.

He parked his car once he reached the lighthouse, which was still off, and it looked out onto the open ocean ominously, the large building acting as a testament to time, with it's worn stone walls and vines climbing along the sides of it. Arthur walked around curiously, looking for Alfred, and jumping a bit as he realized Alfred was asleep on the ground, leaning back against the lighthouse, his shut eyes pointed toward the open water.

"Alfred?" Arthur asked, gently, sitting next to him, the moonlight shining down on them both lazily through the clouds that blocked most of the light.

The hybrid grumbled quietly, shaking awake, before he looked to Arthur quietly, something in his eyes like tears, but Arthur didn't want to intrude on that issue. "Hey…Arthur." He murmured. "Thanks for getting us here." He said, looking to the moon. "It's weird. Dad never told me why there's no moon anymore." He sighed. "It's only when I'm out in the middle of the ocean that I can see the stars." The merman turned his head away. "Ah…well. I'm not gonna, like, hold you to anything." Alfred started. "I mean…so long as you don't tell anyone we're living here…there shouldn't be any problem…"

"I…I don't want to leave you here." Arthur said, nervous. "I…I'd rather like…to stay with you, and be in touch." He nodded, his lips trembling as he looked at Alfred's bright, and shocked blue eyes. "I want to be with you." He admitted. "I don't know why…but I'd feel so guilty if I simply left you here, even though I know you're entirely capable…"

Alfred cracked a small smile. "Well, I suppose I could tolerate you." He mused. "I'd rather like some types of human food again. I miss like, burgers. Cooked meat. Shit like that." And he leaned back again, obviously tired.

Arthur snorted, gently poking at his still-reddened skin with his shoe. "You should get up. Go back inside. You'll get cooked again if you stay up here. That is, if you're not found by others first." Arthur reminded dutifully.

And the merman grumbled, forcing himself to his feet. "I suppose I should ask you if you'd like to come in." Alfred suggested, grinning a bit. "It's a bit of a hike to the cave below, I think I should say."

Arthur nodded, deciding to try and get to know the hybrid a bit better. It would be good, if he wanted to be closer to this man, even though he couldn't precisely figure out what was drawing him to Alfred like this.

XXXXX

As they ascended the stairs, Alfred wasn't entirely certain of what to make of Arthur's request. Why would the human want to be around him? Well, a man, anyway. Typically, his mother had told him that many would desire his presence for who he was- though she neglected to explain the bit about who, exactly, he was.

Alfred's mother was a beautiful mermaid. She had long, blonde hair that generally floated in the water around her, seeming to never grow tangled, and deep blue eyes the color of the open Atlantic Ocean, where she had spent her life.

As he walked up the staircase, leading Arthur up the winding path, he remembered walking in someone else's footsteps.

" _C'mon! Dad! Mom's coming, mom's coming!" He had shouted, excited. The boy, who in human years was about 5 years old, was racing past his father, his finned feet slapping on the ground with his vigor to race back up the stairs._

" _I know, Alfred." His father was an older man, who looked older than his mother ever had. But then again, Alfred knew his father was more human than either himself or his mom. But, the man smiled and tried to keep pace with his excited child, the lighthouse that he worked in being their home._

" _I haven't seen her in a while!" Alfred chirped, speaking in English like his father preferred. Dad loved novels, and Shakespeare, and Tartuffe and Kafka, the poems of people long since dead with their words telling Alfred of a place that he had no other frame of reference for knowing. And his father had nodded.  
_

" _Yes, she's very busy out there. I'd assume she'd have lots of things to do." Dad had shrugged, though he looked a bit sad._

" _Yanno, we'd be able to go out there with her, if you swam better." Alfred said, sighing._

 _Dad had laughed. "Alfie, I don't have gills like you do. Even if I swam great, there'd be a point where I'd drown." The two of them had made it up the staircase, and Alfred jumped excitedly around the top of the lighthouse, while his father ensured that it would be ready for tonight, and then he opened up the secret hatch, going down first to catch Alfred if he slipped down the ladder._

"You said that you had lived here with your father?" Arthur's voice made him jump a bit, realizing that they, too, had reached the landing, and Alfred laughed nervously.

"Yeah. He was just an F1. Couldn't swim much, and didn't have a set of gills. He was content to live on the land." Alfred looked to the center light, which had been out ever since the night where his father had been murdered.

"What happened to him?" Arthur asked. "No one in town knows why the lighthouse just went out one night. It's why there's been a curfew. It's dangerous to sail on these waters when they're black."

"He was killed." Alfred mumbled, a bit upset as he spoke of it. "Saved my life by pretending the one person he had managed to off killed me, coating me in his own blood…and then he told me to lay down, and play dead. There were lots of them, they had laughed at my father and myself, but I didn't move." He sighed. "Then mom came, once they were gone."

"Hm." Arthur hummed. "Why wasn't she living with you?" The human asked, curious. "I would think that Merpeople would have some sort of family structure like a humans, but…you've already proven me wrong, since Matthew lived in that nursery, and you're taking care of him rather than his mother."

Alfred laughed. "Humans, and their silly ideals of "family"." Alfred snickered. "I was the weird one, see? My dad was very sentimental of those same things you're talking about. Typically, merchildren leave the proverbial "nest" when they're old enough to swim for long distances on their own. For me, I should have been on my own when I was about 5." His smile faded. "I lived with my dad until I was 8, and that was when he was killed."

"Why leave your uh, care so young?" Arthur was confused. "Humans aren't even adults until we're 18, legally, but truly our brains aren't finished developing until our mid-20's."

The merman shrugged. "It's better we learn through experience, I guess. Typically, kids leave the sirens in clumps, since they're all born around the same time. They develop their places in the social hierarchy, and they slowly come to find their genders, of which there are 9." Alfred chuckled. "While they learn to live together, and learn of themselves, typically older Merpeople will join their pods so that they have some sort of guidance and continued protection. It's not often that pod society will continue following their transition into sexual maturity and adulthood, in their 30s, in your ages. Only certain Merpeople continue this sort of behavior- those with a large amount of mer in the same clustered area, so, typically reef Merpeople love to have pod societies, as well as mers who live in the marsh." Arthur looked interested.

"So, what are you then?" Arthur asked, confused. "If you didn't get raised in that sort of society, and you're a solitary person now…what are you?"

Alfred laughed. "I did live with my mom for a time, but that's not saying much." He grinned. "She's a, uh." Alfred hummed, trying to find a good word for it. "Well. It's harder to say in English. You don't have the words for our genders." Alfred shrugged. "Well, the best I can say is, she's a masculine type woman. But not actually?" He sighed. "It's hard to explain without the terminology for it. She's strong, and independent, and logical. But those aren't inherently masculine traits? At least not for humans…" Alfred sighed, rubbing his temples. "Plus, it gets worse when you remember full-blooded mer have 3 entire sexes…"

The human looked confused, and Alfred snorted. "C'mon, you still have to climb down the ladder, and then descend the stairs in the cave."

Arthur looked tired already, and Alfred laughed again, more lighthearted about that.

XXXXX

As he followed Alfred down the ladder, Arthur couldn't help but think that he had misjudged the hybrid. He was compassionate, and had clearly been through a lot in life… But then again, so had Arthur, in an entirely separate way. The man had gone through such a hard time fitting in, being who he was in this post-apocalyptic world. It was hard as shit being a gay man, particularly when he was supposed to settle down and do his human duty to repopulate the world.

Which was such a horrible idea, Arthur couldn't even precisely put a word to how horrible that fate was.

Which was probably why Alfred's talk of how the mer worked was so interesting. He knew so much, and his talk of genders, and a third sex, as well as the many types of mer and how mer society worked altogether, it was fascinating. It made Arthur wish vaguely he had been born into it, as Alfred had.

But, he definitely had no trace of the blood of the mer inside of him, evidenced by his capacity to be enthralled, as well as his inability to speak or understand the mer language, which was innate in them, from what he gathered from his books on them, at least.

And it hurt a bit, honestly. To see that Alfred was able to define his life at least somewhat, whereas for Arthur, it had already been predetermined, his fate to be married and to have as many children as he could possibly support.

For the good of humanity, they would tell him.

Alfred looked at him, curious. "You've gone quiet." He commented, grinning a bit as they finally managed their way down the ladder.

"Ah…" Arthur said, surprised. "Well, I'm simply thinking." He tried to explain, and Alfred chuckled.

The hybrid put a hand around his shoulders, and it took Arthur all of his self-control not to lean into his touch, gentle and inviting. "C'mon, Arthur! Lighten up a bit!" He laughed, and Arthur's eyes closed, no longer being able to resist, almost like something in the air was driving him up the wall and into la-la land.

He heard Alfred snort, and the merman pulled away, making Arthur fumble. "Dude, oh my god." He laughed, and Arthur blushed.

The human stared at him, embarrassed. "What! What's so funny! I'm tired!" He tried to justify it, but Alfred wasn't taking it.

"Oh man." He chuckled. "You smell them, dontcha?" He laughed again. "The uh, the pheromones."

Arthur blushed harder, his eyes widening as his mouth opened to argue, before Alfred pursed his lips, and rubbed his wrist against Arthur's mouth, making the human sway a bit. "Oh my god!" He was laughing so hard, that he was about to fall over, holding onto the cave wall to keep himself steady. "Ohhhh my god!"

"What's possibly that funny!?" Arthur snapped, now effectively angry despite his growing hard-on, trying to stop himself from being entirely useless in Alfred's presence.

"You're attracted to me." Alfred said, knowingly. "That's why you wanna stick around. Your body is telling you to get a piece of my hot ass."

Arthur went bright red, and he smacked the merman. "W-why on earth would that be?" He shouted, trying to hide his erectness, but being unable to, Alfred guffawing at the sight of it.

"Man, humans are funny." He said, hugging Arthur again. "Don't worry. I like you being around too- you smell hot." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "We'll have to see, won't we?"

And then he kept walking, leaving Arthur a bit dazed, before the human begrudgingly followed him, and practically dragging his feet on the stairs to illustrate how displeased he was with this revelation.

Though, he supposed it made some sense as to why he wanted to continue being around him, if not completely explaining why Alfred was so attractive to him.

XXXXX

Making Arthur that flustered had been pretty fun, actually, Alfred thought to himself as he brought him down the staircase. It did take his mind off the subject of Alfred's past, and lightened the mood considerably.

Plus, Alfred hadn't been lying when he said Arthur smelled hot.

He would have to think about this, his place in the world and his current relationship with Arthur, Matthew, his own mother.

Even if he liked Arthur as a person, or romantically- Alfred had an obligation to his mother and his species to have kids. He was her firstborn, and he was destined to pass that down another generation, and he hoped for an explanation as to why that was so important, his firstborn status and her presence in his life. Why was his mother so important in the ocean?

He wanted to find her and talk to her, but that was easier said than done. She could be anywhere at the present moment…

So, Alfred would just have to wait, and see, just as he had told Arthur, the little human who was able to smell how attractive Alfred was as a potential mate.

XXXXX

A/N; quick update 4 u guys, lmao.

Time for some more explanations- as Alfred said, he's important because of his mother, and he doesn't quite know why that is. However, he's obligated to have kids (which is why his ability to reproduce is important).

Arthur think's he's hot (I know, seems like a no brainer, right?) It's debatable whether or not humans can smell pheromones, but for the sake of the story, I'm going with yeah. And Alfred's smell awesome bc of his pedigree.

Anyway- being gay's hard enough in the modern day, let alone in a post-apocalyptic setting where like, humans are morally obligated to continue having babies in order to repopulate their species. Alfred's sexuality is not so easily defined by human terms, neither is his sex or gender. But that's just the start of it.

Mer social groups as well! They tend to live solitary lives unless their environment says they have to rely on each other since they are so closely tied together. Since Alfred is a merman of the open waters, he doesn't have a "pod", and neither does his mother. Matthew's "pod" is just Alfred and Arthur, older individuals he will go to for advice as he ages.

Alfred's mom, as well as Matthews, tail is pretty, but also relatively simple. This is also bc of where they live. They don't have any social group, so a lot of traits related to social status don't appear. Mer who live in larger social groups tend to develop more traits that deal with physical appearance, including ornate tails, and frills. They're also more likely to adorn themselves w/ jewelry or tattoos than the ones who live by themselves, in order to convey social status.

Alfred's family doesn't need to convey status like that though! They get that through clear enough when people smell them. But, again, more on Alfred's social status later on! (For reference, Alfred does have a necklace, that was his fathers, and he wears it all the time, it has a shark tooth of the shark his mom beat up to save his dad) He also has a grandmother's ring, but he doesn't wear it, simply keeps it around for special occasions).

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, leave a comment or something, I love reading what u have to think!


	4. Chapter 4

And wait, they did. Arthur couldn't always be around the lighthouse, he tried to anyway, and it was hilarious a lot of the time. Alfred didn't always know what to think of it. Arthur seemed to not know what to do about it, either.

The human often complained of having to walk up and down the stairs, and Alfred's only solution was for him to learn how to breathe and see under the ocean's surface. Arthur was not appreciative of his sarcastic comment, and rolled his eyes.

Arthur was deeply in love. Alfred knew from the look in his eyes and the way he leaned into every touch and his cute and small smile when Alfred looked at him in the illumination that Alfred could get in the cave.

Matthew was sweet, sleeping and resting most of the time, and when they could, Alfred gave him better swimming lessons, hoping to teach him tricks to using his tail he had gotten from watching mom. Plus, he also sought to teach him basic hunting, and he got fish in the cave with some help from Arthur, who was excited to help in this sort of activity.

Arthur's cooking was fucking terrible, but it was endearing. The human was head over heels, and his burnt meat patties that Arthur tried to pass off as hamburgers were hilarious.

Alfred admittedly was in love as well, but he felt as though that might not be the best thing for the human. Arthur wanted attention- he wanted stable, and loving. He wanted a partner, a _human_ partner. And Alfred wasn't that. He never could be that ideal.

And it hurt, it hurt like no other decision that Alfred had ever had.

"How long will you need to live here?" Arthur asked, curious. "How long will you stay?"

Alfred sighed, his hair having dried out from staying on the land for this long. His feet dangled in the water, revealing his inhumanness. He didn't even have toes, whereas Arthur's were delightfully ticklish. Arthur had tried to tickle his fins, but hadn't gotten any reaction, but probably had gotten a little weirded out at the feel of the thin skin where toes were supposed to have been on a human.

"Do you _really_ want me sticking around?" Alfred asked, sighing. "I mean, like, I'm a solitary creature. I'm genetically _predispositioned_ to hate living in a large group at my age. I also hate staying here, to be perfectly honest. I feel trapped. I'm meant to be on the open ocean. Hunting for god's sake. Let alone the fact I hit my sexual maturity this year- meaning, I'm gonna be driven to find a mate." The merman sighed, biting his lip with a sharp tooth, pinching a pimple just on the edge of his mouth.

Arthur looked pained, and frustrated. "But Alfred, you realize that you're not an animal, right? You're not. You're just as human as I am. You enjoy romance just as I do…and, and you're romantic at times, I mean…" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Couldn't you _learn_ to live on land?"

"Art, I _dry out_. Like, as in, I can't be out of the water for more than 5 hours at a time. Surely, that'd look fucking suspicious to the humans who lived in your town. If they found out, I'd be dead, and so would you."

The merman looked at him with soft blue eyes, trying to convey to the human that as much as they wanted it to work, it wouldn't. Alfred had spent many hours thinking on this, and it could only ever end in travesty.

His mother gently lying over his father's dead body, his father's blood spilled on the floor around them. Arthur was standing precisely where he had seen his father killed, the slash across his chest making his time numbered into mere minutes, Alfred crying and begging for this not to be happening, his father gently coating Alfred in his blood, telling Alfred he had to play pretend, the light leaving his eyes.

It was so easy to imagine Arthur dead like that. His father had looked so scared, so afraid at that time, but he smiled for Alfred, trying to reassure him that all was fine, and he saw Arthur lying down and dying, his life draining out of him red and evil.

And it hurt him, to think- Even if someone didn't kill Arthur, if he lived out his entire human lifespan- what then? Alfred was destined to live far longer than him.

Perhaps it was better for him to finish here.

"Arthur, I don't think this will ever go anywhere." Alfred said, gentle.

And the human's green eyes turned to him with shock. "H-how dare…you say that?" Arthur said, his breaths hitching, the human across from him shocked and horrified, his face frozen in disbelief.

"I don't want you to think…that this could work." The merman looked, and felt guilty. "Arthur, you deserve better than someone like me… I'm not even human…" He laughed, but it was bitter. "It doesn't matter, how we feel…I'm partially feral… I'm human, only when I'm not being dominated by my instincts…" He looked at him with his intense blue eyes, and revealed his sharp teeth.

Arthur looked scared, stepping back in fright. Alfred had known he would, though. Alfred had known, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when Arthur stumbled away when Alfred took a step forward.

"Arthur…" He said, and the human flinched.

The merman watched in horror as Arthur seemed to steady himself. But, this was the decision that Alfred had made. He would live with the consequences of his actions from this point on.

"G-get away from me." He said, the shock in his voice still clear, but anger grew quickly to replace it. "Y-you think you have to be doing me a fucking _favor,_ don't you? That you're saying, oh, it'd never work out. I'd better let down this _sap_ lightly."

Alfred gulped, and opened his mouth to speak, when Arthur closed the distance suddenly and punched him straight in the mouth.

The merman went stumbling back, but Arthur didn't let up on him. "You fucking encouraged it, but you don't want to follow through, _hm_?" He shouted, putting his foot on the merman's chest, and holding him down. Alfred struggled, looking up into furious green eyes that looked like poison as Arthur stared at him judgmentally. When he tried to speak, tried to explain, that this was best for them both, Arthur kicked him upside the head, stomping on his chest and driving the air out of him.

Alfred stared at him, blue eyes horrified. "I made the mistake of thinking you were human, that you could _feel_." Arthur laughed, sounding a bit unhinged. "What a joke! You're an animal. A _monster_." He spat on him then, kicking at his head once again, making Alfred's world spin. "And I was truly a fool for thinking you'd ever be anything _but_ a monster." Arthur sneered at him, before he let off him, Alfred curling onto his side and staring at him. Matthew was screeching at Arthur, threatened by him, and Arthur ignored him for the moment. Perhaps he couldn't hear him.

"I-I'm…." The hybrid gasped for air, "I'm sorry….I…I din' mean it… like that." Arthur walked up to him, and kicked him again.

"Sorry! You're sorry? For making me think that you cared, and then revealing that you couldn't change a single thing about how you lived? Thinking, oh perhaps this might not be a good idea. After all, you only think of yourself, right?"

He was shaking a bit as he slowly tried to make it to the water…his mind focused in on trying to escape. Arthur laughed. "Running away, are we?" He said, angered still. "I can only imagine your father." He said, an edge to his voice now.

Alfred whipped his head to him in shock, and Arthur looked glad to have garnered his attention again, his hands shaking in anger. "I bet that the story you have, about his death- that's a lie, isn't it?" He laughed. "I bet you _killed him_ , you fucking _monster_." Arthur was enraged, and Alfred felt anger building up inside himself. "Or, maybe it wasn't you who killed him." Arthur laughed once more. "Maybe it was the fact he had a monster son. He was still human, but you- you aren't." Arthur's eyes narrowed. "He died protecting you, and for what? For you to leave his body here to _rot?_ " Arthur kicked Alfred again, and Alfred finally cried out in pain, unable to hold it in anymore.

"G-get out…" Alfred spat out blood, remembering this was his home.

Arthur looked at him, anger still present in his eyes, poisoning everything Arthur was. "I think not." Arthur said, airily. "You'd best be going." He said, narrowing his eyes. "If you dare show your fucking face around here…if you think you can still live amongst humans after that shit show…I'll be waiting. Because I'll go, certainly. But I'll be certain to tell every human in town precisely where you live. And I will kill you, fucking bastard. I'll take a harpoon and I'll shove it through your fucking brain."

XXXXX

Arthur knew he had stepped over the line. But he was so angry, so hurt- his every instinct was telling him to scare off the threat, and deal with the consequences later. He had been raised to push away people, it was his only defense.

Alfred hissed suddenly, human words lost to him altogether as he finally made it to the water, sinking beneath the surface and racing suddenly to Matthew's crib, grabbing the boy and holding him tight. Alfred stared at him, clearly now in his fight-or-flight response, and Arthur simply growled as Alfred hissed at him, glowering at the merman.

"If you're going to run, do it now, you fucking coward!" Arthur screamed at him. He saw his last boyfriend in Alfred. He wasn't even certain who he was yelling at anymore. His last boyfriend had cheated on him, and cheated on him, and cheated on him.

Alfred was just the same. Alfred was no better. He was far worse, since he always tried to justify it with his genetics and how he was internally. He was such a fake martyr.

He pictured his last boyfriend's sorry face, apologizing that it _just wasn't going to work out_. But Arthur knew better. It wasn't that it couldn't work out- it was that these kinds of people were more animal, more monster than human.

He grabbed the gun in his pocket and fired it right beside him, meaning just to scare him, remind the bastard that he wasn't doing some righteous deed by leaving Arthur like this.

But, he saw Alfred's blue eyes suddenly change. There was now a primal fear, something that wasn't there before. Certainly, Alfred had been afraid this whole encounter, but it changed as Arthur threatened to kill him outright.

And Alfred, as well as Matthew, disappeared quickly. Arthur fired at the water, shouting at him in anger, but the bullets were gone fast, and he was still pulling the trigger now, even though the motion was useless.

Arthur threw down the gun, and turned to the wall, letting himself cry then. He hated being seen as weak, as lesser, as someone to let down easy. He wasn't weak. He could handle himself far better. And like his last boyfriend, Arthur knew that Alfred needed to learn the ropes of how to respect him.

He'd be back. Arthur was certain of it. These sort of people, they knew when Arthur threatened them that it didn't mean anything. Threats were meaningless- because Arthur never followed through with them.

Minutes ticked by, though. Arthur turned around as he started to collect himself to look into the water, and gagged as he realized that there was blood that had collected at the surface. There wasn't a body to go along with it…but….he had actually done it. He had shot him.

And he felt sick, so sick, as he came out of his PTSD induced rage, knowing that he had taken it too far. And it wasn't just a little bit too far. He had crossed the line and then done a marathon race over it.

Arthur collapsed on the water's edge, where he had last seen Alfred, looking scared- no, not scared. Absolutely terrified. Alfred knew nothing of Arthur's past. He knew only of the sweet Arthur that Arthur had tried to be. Alfred would never be abusive.

But Arthur had certainly come off as so.

It was then that he had started to scream, getting into the water and floundering around, looking for any sign of him, thinking perhaps that he had just been hiding, that he hadn't just _left_.

However, as his frantic searching proved, that wasn't so.

And he cried then, loud and begging for him to come back- he hadn't meant it, he wanted Alfred still, he wasn't broken, Arthur promised him he wasn't broken even though Alfred wasn't even there anymore.

The human crawled onto the shore again, shaking as he held himself, his lips trembling as he looked up at the cave ceiling.

Arthur no longer needed to worry about Alfred hurting him, or destroying their relationship by doing something stupid.

He had done that to them well enough on his own, after all.

XXXXX

Matthew was fast growing. He soon enough outgrew the cradle, (a new one, that Alfred had gotten from sirens) and Alfred laughed when he did. "Bro, you're so big now!" He said, hugging the boy, who was now large enough to sit in a proper chair. "We're going to have to teach you how to make a bed for yourself!" He suggested, and the boy clicked his tongue approvingly.

"Like how you make yours?" Matthew asked, looking at the pool where Alfred slept at night, and Alfred nodded.

"It's so crazy to me. Here you are, not even a year old, and you look, like, 4." Alfred snorted. "Amazing. Dad was right when he said that merkids grow up too fast." The merman laughed as Matthew huffed, his blonde hair sticking to his head from having just emerged from the water.

It was good…it was good he had Matthew. The boy didn't talk about Arthur anymore, which was also good. This provided the perfect distraction from that. He had since had time to heal from the bullets that Arthur had shot through him, but it wasn't enough time to heal from the emotional blows Arthur had made to him.

Alfred thought that Arthur was utterly sincere in his threats, and instinct had always kept him safe from harm. Summer was turning into fall.

It hurt, it really did. Arthur had destroyed him easily, completely taking him down and making him rethink his entire relationship with the human. He wondered what Arthur would do now… Alfred didn't know…he also didn't care.

Matthew was growing to be a fine young merman. He was still smaller than Alfred, but he was getting faster. He was beating Alfred more often in races. Alfred was glad for him. He'd be able to fit in to their race's life far easier that Alfred had.

Alfred hugged Matthew, and thought briefly of a life where he wasn't alone. But that was hard. He had been alone so long before meeting Arthur.

But, he pushed it aside. Alfred had survived- as he had always.

The two brothers left their makeshift home, Matthew leading the charge and Alfred staying far beneath the surface, avoiding any chance of being seen by human eyes.

XXXXX

It would be a long time before Arthur would find Alfred again. Even if he couldn't make him trust Arthur again, even if he couldn't make Alfred reconsider- he really did just want him to understand that Arthur hadn't meant what he had said.

Arthur searched the oceans, fishing, hoping to find him.

He had to apologize, he just had to, Arthur was being eaten up inside by the fact he was still broken, the fact the last person he had loved before Alfred had destroyed him so successfully.

He knew that he had been irrational, but…it was only because of his past. Certainly Alfred would understand that Arthur was still suffering from past scars?

And he started not going back into town, searching, and searching, and searching. There was an entire ocean to search, and then more. He was hungry, and thirsty, and tired.

Maybe he wasn't even searching for Alfred, maybe he was just searching for a way to end his struggles.

He didn't anchor his boat before he rested, hoping that he would just disappear, and cease to be. It truly would be a kinder fate, than this.

XXXXX

Upon finding a human boat, careening wildly around, no anchor dropped and not being steered around, Alfred grew suspicious and worried- where was the human on that boat?

He recognized it, how could he not? It was Arthur's _Britannia III,_ his ship. Alfred looked at it with fright, and some worry, though that would easily be buried if he saw this to be a trap.

Matthew came up, the boy having been swimming with him, looking bigger, and fiercer. His deep purple eyes reminded Alfred of the waters of the north, the lights in the skies.

"Al, you can't be serious." Matthew clicked, looking to the ship and putting two and two together. "This guy was a full on nut. Besides, it's almost season for you." The merman trilled, waggling his eyebrows and making Alfred feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah?" Alfred snorted. "Man, you're wayyy to young to be concerned about that. His ship's not anchored." Alfred noted to Matthew. "That mean's he's in some sort of trouble…or, it's a trap. Lemme just see." He said, confident just for show, trying to set Matthew's mind at ease.

The boy was unimpressed, though, and Alfred's stomach dropped, his clawed hands, with their elongated fingers, gripped the ladder, and the hybrid climbed aboard the ship.

"Arthur?" He called, surprised when he stood there awaiting immanent death, only to realize Arthur wasn't there.

The merman wandered a bit, stumbling every now and again as the ship wobbled in the ocean, and once he was tired of that, he threw the anchor overboard to steady them while he searched for the dumb human.

He called Matthew suddenly when he found him; the human was unconscious, and bone thin. "Shit! Matt, he's not good!" Alfred said, picking him up with hardly a second thought, his compassion really being too much to handle at times…

Alfred leapt into the water with Arthur in his arms, keeping their heads above the water, gently reassuring him that it would be okay despite how quiet the human was, how frail he felt in his arms, grabbing his water pouch and opening Arthur's mouth, keeping him upright while he tried to get him to drink some, coaxing him into it, and the human slowly started to drink from it, relieving Alfred a bit.

"Matt, we have to find land." Alfred said, firmly. "He cannot stay out here anymore."

The younger merman looked to Alfred and Arthur in confusion, the F5 unable to comprehend why Alfred was driven to help this human rather than eliminate the threat. But, he listened to his elder, and helped Alfred onto the boat with Arthur, before allowing Alfred to get him on it as well.

"There's a tub!" Alfred said, and filled it quickly as he could to an acceptable line, before letting Matthew sink into the water.

Alfred laid Arthur down in the bed after drying him off, the little bedroom area tiny and dark. "I don't know what happened to you…but no one deserves to die." Alfred said, and closed the door, before he lifted the anchor and headed to the west. They were closer to the American continent than they were to Europe now, so it simply made more sense to head that way…

Alfred just hoped the human would survive that far.

XXXXX

a/n: So, arthur's backstory is also starting to come to light!

I won't get into an incredible amount of details, but Arthur survived domestic abuse trauma in his last relationship, and hes scared of going into something like that again, hence his blowing up at Alfred. He has PTSD that he had diagnosed, but cannot access treatment for it. Theres simply not enough time in doctors schedules in the new world to treat him. So, he has suffered alone for a long time, and he took out his struggles on Alfred.

Of course, I'm not so mean as to cut it off there. Alfred's compassionate, and he's gone through a lot himself. Let's see if I can keep the update pace up, right!

They're going to have to sort through some issues, and they're going to America to do that!

And as Matthew said well enough- the season for breeding is almost upon them.

Alfred's mom's going to show up soon, but I'm not going to mention more on that until she does!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter more focused on the struggles of a relationship as well as what difficulties the two would face if they were together in Europe. I wanted to develop arthur's character some, and we'll get to see more of that next chapter!

If you liked it, please leave something for me! I love reading ur comments and I get so happy when people like my writing. I hope it wasn't too rushed a change!


	5. Chapter 5

When Arthur woke up, he absently realized he wasn't alone, based off the voices around him. More than that, they were familiar. One was speaking in English, occasionally snapping in the mer tongue, and the other was just exclusively speaking mer. But that wasn't possible…

Arthur was supposed to die on the boat…alone…why was…

"Heya, Arthur." Alfred's voice said, growing a bit guarded now that he saw Arthur was moving. "I see you pulled through the night…"

Arthur slowly opened his eyes, gasping a bit, and he felt Alfred's hands, wet and clawed, gently on him, suddenly supporting him and making him sit up. It was dark, and Arthur was scared. Why…why couldn't he see…? He whined, reaching out with weak hands, and Alfred sighed.

"Matt, open the hatch? He can't see in the dark…" And he shuddered as suddenly, there was light in the room, and he curled in on himself, shaking some more as he realized that he had been in his bed. Alfred laughed a bit, letting Arthur curl up against him. "Man, you're out of it, aren't you…?" Alfred asked, a bit quiet, trying to joke but only seeming to dampen the mood further.

"Ah…. Alfred...?" He mumbled, confused. "Why…?" He asked, trying to sit up further but simply falling backwards, shaking, into Alfred's arms.

"Why'd I help?" Alfred said, scratching his forehead with one claw. "To be truthful, I don't know. The gunshot wounds were hard to heal from, and uh, bein' threatened with death isn't precisely what brings people together..." And Arthur's gut clenched, his heart dropping into his stomach and at the same time beating hard in his throat.

"…I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm sorry, I am…Alfred…I'm so sorry…" He started to cry, but he was so dehydrated the tears couldn't come. "So sorry…" Arthur continued to shake, and Alfred gently reassured him, holding him there.

The merman's blue eyes found his, and he smiled gently, hushing him softly as he laid Arthur down in the bed once more, Arthur's hand finding a piece of his clothing to grip onto, like a child begging for a parent to stay. The merman laughed lightly, and nodded, sitting beside Arthur dutifully as the man fitfully held on to life, until he fell asleep once again.

XXXXX

"You know this is a horrible idea, right, Alfred?" Matthew clicked in disapproval, and Alfred sighed, before he warbled back with uncertainty.

"Yeah, well…it's the best idea I have on making sure that Arthur gets help in time for him to, yanno, _live_." Alfred's whistle was quiet though, and Matthew snapped at him, his two sets of teeth both out.

"And who said the human deserves that! We'll be in danger for it!" He hissed a bit in disapproval, his hair dried out from having stayed on the boat for this long.

Alfred gulped, licking his lips. "I'm not asking you to go in with me." Alfred said in English, quiet. "I'll go in alone. You should stick by the ship…but I won't endanger you, Mattie." The hybrid smiled, nervous, but nodded firmly. "Yeah. I'll take him in."

Matthew's returning whistle was shrill, upset and angry. "He's already threatened to kill you once! And if he follows through on that? Then what, brother?!" He shrieked at the more human hybrid. "You're mother's firstborn! Her _heir_ , I know that you are less driven by the innate knowledge of who you are than I am, and mother is, but surely you realize that now that you are an adult, you are infinitely more valuable than a human?"

Alfred smiled, sighing, the sigh coming out in two parts with his nervousness. "Well, I don't suppose I get that, Matt. No one life is worth more than any other."

And the F5 snarled at him, upset and not sure how to word it, his eyes narrow as the two brothers stared one another down, enraged purple eyes meeting calmed, if anxious, blue ones.

Then, he was gone the moment Alfred broke his gaze, having jumped ship and disappeared under the water.

"Matthew?" Alfred called, after a moment, and then he clicked his name out in their shared tongue.

He waited, watching the water for movement, shadows, or anything. But Alfred was alone. Matthew had gone.

Alfred was alone.

The hybrid sat by himself on the edge of the ship, hoping and praying that Matthew would be able to figure out how to do everything he needed on his own. He knew, in the back of his mind, that it was time for the boy to leave his nursing grounds, and travel with mer his own age, and develop himself.

Alfred should have known that he could not have done that for the boy. He was just one mer, and a low level hybrid at that. It had been an eventuality for Matthew to leave him, even if it did come…at an unfortunate time.

Life changed, Alfred knew that better than anyone else. Life moved on, and you had to move with it or risk death.

He still remembered when he had learned that very lesson.

" _Alfred, my love." His mother's clicks and whistles were always vaguely musical, the mermaid looking ethereal in the water, swimming ahead of the boy, who was struggling to keep up with her. "You must learn to push."_

 _The boy, not even 9 yet, having hit the wall after leaving his childhood home, cried in frustration. "Mom! I've never swum this far before! I can't keep going!"_

 _The mermaid's deep blue eyes bore into him. "My heir, you must push. You must keep moving. Life moves on, as does the current. Keep up, or you will be dragged away by it." She said, and then she swam away, her long tail trailing behind her, as did her golden blonde hair._

" _Mom!" Alfred cried out, kicking and struggling, watching her get farther, and farther. "Mom! Please!" The boy cried, shaking as he felt the ocean's currents dragging at him. "I can't swim like that!"_

 _The woman, now a good 20 meters from him, stared, and her words got to him moments later. "Alfred, you must learn to. You may not have a tail, but you can learn to swim like this." And she swam from side to side, but the F2 stared in confusion, before he pushed his hands in front of him, flattening them out, and put his legs together as well, before he wriggled, his elongated fingers letting him cut through the current, and his feet, pressed together like a tail fin, finally letting him gain water, pushing himself forward. His muscles ached, unused to the action, and his mother nodded affirmatively._

 _The two pressed on through the waters, the boy following her as she swam on, and on, and on, and on._

Life was like the oceans current. They were ever moving, ever changing. As the tide's rose and fell, so did life. It pushed and pulled on you, and you either would be led by life…or you would lead it. There was only one constant- and that constant was change.

Alfred sang a short song for Matthew, wishing his younger brother luck in the wide ocean. This would be the time he would have left the sirens anyway. The young always left before mating season began.

But, now that he had done what needed to be done, the man cried. He was still very human. He had known this day and time would come, but he hadn't been ready for it all the same. How was he ever to know if Matthew lived or died from this point on? It was not as though Alfred might be able to track him. As Matthew matured, he would be a better swimmer than Alfred, undoubtedly, and there was an entire world out there for him.

Alfred wiped his tears, and stood, looking to the horizon and asking it for answers once again.

The Merpeople worshipped the sun, and the moon. From what Alfred had read of human literature, it was different from ideals of humanity.

The Sun, brilliant and bright, was in charge of the hunt. It was with the almighty light of the Sun that mer could hunt, no matter where they might live. The Sun was vitality, fertility. Mer could only mate in the light of the sun, never in the darkness of the moon, for it would be too cold. Similarly, merchildren born in the sun were destined for greatness, and would shine brightly into the lives of everyone they knew.

Meanwhile, the Moon, mysterious as it was, a symbol of things unspoken and oftentimes insinuated to be bad, though Alfred knew it was more because the Moon represented the Unknown, in its mystery. It also was a representative for constancy in change, being in charge of the tides with their army of stars. With the disappearance of the Moon, certain mer cultures had come to accept it that the sun had destroyed its counterpart at last, but Alfred's mother had always believed that the moon had changed once again. The Moon still controlled the tides, so his mom believed that the Moon was simply in hiding, waiting the day that they might show their face once more.

Despite how Merpeople didn't typically raise their children, they would stay for the birth.

Which was why Alfred knew that he had been born in the time of change. He was born from his mother as the sun rose into the sky, and emerged from his purse as the sun fell from it. A rarity for Merpeople, his mother had told him, though she was scarce with the details of what it meant to be a child of the changing sun. He knew it was rare to be born at precisely those times that the light of the glowing and dimming sun had touched him and marked him even more than he had already been marked for.

His mother _had_ told him that the horizon would always hold the answer to his prayer. Just as the Sun had kissed him on births, in both rise and fall, it meant that he would always be able to look forward without fear. So that was where he directed his prayers to their almighty, hoping that the sun might listen to him there. She was adamant that his prayers would hold strongest when the sun was either coming up or setting.

Alfred wasn't entirely sure of what to think of that, though. But, a few prayers wouldn't do any harm, and he would have to do something to commemorate Matthew's casting off since he wasn't getting anything from the sirens he had spent time with, said sirens now undoubtedly thinking he was dead.

Matthew had been born in the light of the moon. It was a special time for a child to be born, to be blessed by the moon, his mother had explained. The moon was hiding from man, who had forced him and the legion of stars in the sky away. Matthew had been kissed by it, and so would be protected always from harm in change. Matthew would always be able to adapt in new circumstances. That was what his mother had told him.

That night, after checking in on Arthur and helping him drink some of their rationed water, he took out a shell he had gotten from the ocean a few hours ago, and he opened it to reveal the pearl in the pale moonlight for the first time, before gently setting it down in the shell.

"Just as I show you this pearl, and allow you to kiss it, Moon." Alfred murmured, voice quiet. "You kissed my brother both times when he was born, and he is now under you once again for the first time. Bring my wishes to him, that he may travel safely in the night, and that there may be no cruel surprises for him in the darkness of black waters. Allow him to swiftly travel to a pod of merchildren, who will gladly accept my brother, your child, into their ranks." Alfred kissed the pearl gently, and nodded. "And as token of my gratitude to you, I will humbly wear this pearl, as a symbol of your presence in my life."

With that, the ritual was complete, and a weight was lifted off of Alfred's shoulders. He strung the pearl soon after, and gently hung it around his neck, alongside the necklace he had been wearing before it. A token of one being he had killed, and one being whom he hoped to save.

Alfred got up shortly after, and walked to the cabin, where Arthur was sleeping. "I guess we only have each other, right, Arthur?" Alfred said, gently as he crawled next to him, letting the human hang onto him quietly, the human subconsciously seeking out his warmth and presence.

XXXXX

When Arthur woke, it was weird once again. He was holding onto Alfred, who was quiet as he rested, and there was no sign of Matthew now.

His head was far too confused to think anything through, and so he weakly pawed at Alfred, nuzzling him and begging for water, for food.

The merman chuckled tiredly, but got up, and helped Arthur sit in his lap, allowing him to drink once again. Alfred pulled away before Arthur could get his fill, and the human whined weakly.

"Shhh…" Alfred said, quiet. "We are nearly there… I know, you must be very thirsty, and hungry, but I only have so much freshwater to drink, and we only have so many ways to cook things for you." And the merman held him, and it made it a bit better in that moment. Arthur liked being held…

The man clearly had said that aloud, and Alfred chuckled lightly. "I know you do, Art. You're all feverish from nearly dying from dehydration." He held him tighter. "Plus, it's no good that you're starved too. I was worried you had fallen into a coma!" Alfred's voice was warm…it was easy to ignore his words because they confused him… His deep chuckle warmed Arthur again, and the human held tight to Alfred while the merman was content to give him a look over.

"Nearly…there…" Arthur smiled dazedly, repeating Alfred's words from earlier…how much earlier? He couldn't say. The merman put his cool hand against Arthur's forehead, and the human sighed contentedly, leaning into the cool touch.

"That's right. You're almost there." Alfred said, encouragingly. "You just have to hang on a bit longer." The merman held him. "Then you'll be able to get all the food and water you could possibly want."

Arthur nodded slowly, letting himself slip back into rest as he looked at Alfred, trusting him as Alfred squeezed his hand.

XXXXX

A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter.

Matthew leaves as his biological clock alerts him it is time to do. The trigger was the disagreement with Alfred, which is a common way for mer children to be pushed out of the nursery. Fights are also something that happen in human families, (w/ teenagers, of course, they're struggling to find who they are) the mer children are simply more active in the process, and are able to take care of themselves better than human teens.

That doesn't mean that Alfred won't miss him- as much as he separates himself from his human side, Alfred is much more sentimental about family and all that.

Plus, a bit of mer religion and beliefs- my thought on it was that they'd be very different from humans because they've come to associate the moon and the sun with other things as well- in sunlight, Merpeople would be able to see much better, and hunt better as well. The sun keeps them warm and it is best to mate in the sunlight as well. Sunlight alerts you where threats are.

Moonlight, by some surface water mer, is evil, but that's because of its implications with other predators, and other mer who live in deeper layers of the ocean + hunt at night.

Similarly, the four seasons were never really taken into much account for things like snow unless you lived in a region that was cold enough to get ice (some mer do, others have never seen ice). The only season that matters is winter. It's when mating season begins, and its also when young Merpeople leave the nursery to make room for new young.

They also recognize the season for growth, but unlike humans, do not give it a name. Merpeople recognize longer days vs longer nights, but they don't mind it much bc they are underwater more often than not. Summer is associated with suffocation, as algae grows in the ocean and such.

Mer don't have watches, they rely on the position of the sun in the sky to alert them what time in the day it is, and now there is no moon in the sky on most nights, they lose track of time in the later hours. (but ususally they sleep at night, so its not a big deal)

Either way! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, if u have questions that I can answer 4 you about this universe, I'd be more than happy too!

Thanks for reading, I'd love it if you left a comment somewhere because I thrive off of what you guys think!


	6. Chapter 6

Alfred was uncertain of what he was doing. But then again, he had never been "certain" in his actions, not since he was a young child living with his father. He looked at the shore of the American coastline, sighing as he saw the port approaching, the lighthouse shining dimly in the early morning light.

"Welcome to America." He said to himself, voice soft as he started flashing his own lights, alerting people on the shore he was coming in.

He was anxious as the shore grew closer, and the lighthouse guided him to the port, which he was thankful for, and the boat finally made it to land one more. Alfred waited patiently for the humans on the shore to come out, curious of who this one was.

"Uh, hi." Alfred said, laughing a bit. "Well, uh, I know that…you're probably confused as to why a mer is boating, but- hm, my _companion_ ," he choose the word delicately, "Could use some medical assistance."

The two snorted, before they lowered the scarves on their necks, revealing gills. "It's not the mer part that gets us!" One of them said, grinning. "It's _who_ has decided to come to here. Welcome to D.C., Heir of the Atlantic."

Alfred raised his eyebrows, blinking a bit. "Uh, I. What?" He said, confused, blinking rapidly as he looked at the two F3s with disbelief. "I'm…what?"

They laughed at his confusion. "You're certainly _very_ different from your mother." One of them said, affectionate.

"You have a human on board with you?" The other said, nodding for a few humans to come on board, who smiled at Alfred, seeming a bit in awe. "Where?" The F3 inquired, and Alfred gestured for them to follow him as he went to get Arthur, leading them to the bedroom and opening the hatch.

"I-I've been boating for a few days…he…he's in bad shape, isn't he…?" Alfred stuttered, nervous about being suddenly around this many humans, only used to being around one at a time.

The humans picked him up, and moved him to a strange contraption, carrying him out on it, Alfred chasing after him more because he was nervous to be alone among all these other people.

"Sir! You're okay!" They tried to reassure him that it would be okay, but Alfred refused to allow them to surround him, frightened and alone now.

He growled, guttural, threatened by this many people, and the F3's alerted the humans to stay back, and gestured the mer forward. Many of them gently clicked at him, trying to communicate that it was different here, that he was okay here. This was a safe place. A place of diplomacy- between human and mer and hybrid alike, but Alfred had grown so used to the cold and unwelcoming waters around Europe, that he was unreasonable, and upset.

Alfred didn't understand. He had always been alone. Always. Ever since he had gone with mom that day, he had been alone. Why was this place different? Surely, something was a trap.

And he wept, and he wept, and he wept.

XXXXX

It was weird, waking up this time. His mind was less clouded, and he was able to rationalize somewhat. Through his slowly moving mind, which felt like molasses, Arthur was able to realize that he was in a hospital. It was different from the ones in his town. When did he get here?

More importantly, why was he here, and how did he arrive?

The feeling of a feeding tube in his stomach and the IV drip, drip, dripping told him that something serious had happened.

He last remembered being on his ship, and going to sleep, his body heavy, and his mind resolved in giving up. There were also brief flashes of something else, but it was hard…to get past…this fog.

Slowly, Arthur blinked.

Alfred. That was right. Alfred had been there, at some point.

But, why would Alfred help him? Arthur had…done those awful things… He still couldn't believe he had done that- he adored Alfred, everything about him. Even though it had hurt to hear him, something inside of him had simply snapped, and he had exploded in rage, an agonizing anger that had been pent up inside him for so long Arthur had simply forgotten its presence and took it to be a constant.

Arthur couldn't speak at the moment, not with the tube down his throat.

He didn't really want to wake up…Arthur hated that with every single beep of his heart on the monitor, he remembered more of what had gone wrong.

Alfred hadn't deserved his outburst. He hadn't. He had been kind, and he was simply trying to help Arthur. Arthur knew that…he knew that Alfred was a hybrid, and he lived in the ocean. His town was all too ready to kill Alfred for meat. So what if cannibalism was thrown in with the sins they had already committed? Arthur was meat as well.

And yet, as he recalled, it had been simple, a simple statement that had suddenly put his mind back to his young teenage years where Arthur had been freshly kicked out of his home, and now had to defend himself, meeting the seemingly handsome and capable Brian, who was 25, who did everything in his power to grind the will and self-esteem Arthur had after dealing with his parents until he was 14.

Brian had been 11 years older than Arthur, and he used that to his full advantage. He made up laws to scare Arthur into silence; constantly made the teen second-guess his actions and thoughts. He left him and tossed Arthur out on the street, saying that it couldn't work out between them, but "willingly" took him back when Arthur was weak and starved, and fucked him raw.

And Arthur, now 23, not even 10 years after meeting Brian, had forgotten the power those words held over him, how raw those wounds still were.

He had done it over and over again, he had come back and tortured Arthur some more, until the day Arthur found out the man had died one night. Arthur had been about to turn 18 when that day had come, when the sudden realization that Brian would not come back again, wouldn't fuck him and make Arthur second-guess himself any longer, it had been elating and terrifying. Arthur was broken goods at that point- right? Right? No one else could ever want him. Right?

Hatred towards himself soon spilled outwards, coating every part of Arthur's insides and soon enough his outsides as well. Bitterness became his shell, and a sharp tongue was his weapon. If someone got too close, if someone had the potential to hurt him again, Arthur would fire it, and destroy them with ease.

It had ruined his friendships, and had forced him to move towns- twice.

Arthur wasn't a teenager any longer. He had slowly learned how to cope with the damage that had been done to him. He had lost sight of the burning anger inside of him, and he had let it disappear into his body, letting it slowly poison his spirit without his notice.

And he had sunk his venom deep into Alfred, the golden boy who had only ever been kind to him, half-convinced it was Brian returned from the dead, his delusional mind even conjuring images of the handsome man half-eaten by maggots, dropping down his pants and whispering that no one else could love him, that Arthur should be grateful to have his love.

And Arthur blinked once more, green eyes dulled. Oh yes. No one else could love Arthur Kirkland- not because of his appearance or his intelligence or who he had been before all of this. No one else could love Arthur Kirkland because he was broken goods. One wrong move, and you were the prey of the viper, prepared to sink his fangs into you.

His eyes closed slowly, preferring sleep to this parade of horribles going through his head.

"Arthur?" He heard a familiar voice call to him, and his gut sank. He felt like the most disgusting person in the world. But, he opened his eyes, looking into slightly scared blue ones and feeling his heart stutter, the monitor confirming the sound.

It was Alfred, sunkissed and gorgeous as he always had been. Arthur lifted a hand slowly, feeling his entire body to be made of lead but pushing through it, and gave a small wave, before it dropped to his side, flopping off the bed.

Arthur was glad to hear his small laugh, and smiled a bit at him, though he didn't put any hope in that direction. Alfred deserved the world and more.

"Well, I do want to talk about what happened." Alfred said, gentle. "But, if you didn't get told yet, I found you in the middle of the Atlantic, and I took you to the nearest landmass I could find- which was America." The hybrid scratched his hair. "Apparently America is a haven for mer and hybrids, just as well as humans. It's super hard to believe." He laughed a bit, before looking to Arthur, worried. "They said you were nearly dead." He whispered. "That you just barely made it. You could have died."

Arthur looked at him, unable to lick his lips but desiring to, feeling chapped, but mostly that was an excuse to get them to remove the tube. He desperately needed to apologize. There was no excusing his actions- but Alfred deserved an apology. He hadn't done anything wrong, and he had gotten hurt. Plus, he had saved Arthur's life, worthless as the action was since it was partly intentional.

Alfred looked at him quietly, and went to grab his hand, before suddenly changing his mind, and patting his shoulder tentatively. "I'll be around. I won't…I won't forgive your actions." Alfred said, brow furrowed as he looked away. "Arthur, you genuinely hurt me- you screamed at me, beat me up and shot me. That's not something to be forgiven without knowing _why._ And even then, knowing why it happened, I won't forgive those actions." The F2 took a deep breath. "However… I would be open to the possibility of forgiving _you_ for those actions. The actions were irredeemable. But, you, you're a person, and _you_ are not irredeemable."

And Arthur slowly smiled, tears welling up in his eyes, and he nodded slowly.

Alfred was too good. He was honestly too good for someone like Arthur, Arthur who had hurt him intentionally and unintentionally at this point. But Arthur revealed in his light, his purity.

"Now go back to sleep, dummy." Alfred scoffed. "I'll be around, promise." He grinned a bit, and Arthur's eyes, heavy as they were, slid back shut, and he fell back into peaceful oblivion.

XXXXX

And Alfred was most certainly around. He was scared of actually going outside, where plenty of humans and mer lived together. It was like an entirely different world to him.

Absently, Alfred realized his social growth had been horribly stunted when he had missed out on joining a pod and learning of his place in society. So, he stuck to what he knew, and for the moment, that was Arthur.

Occasionally, he'd have to go outside, and it was stranger still to him, because there was a complex system of waterways the humans had developed around the hospital, glass rooms where Merpeople could stay if they were injured, and those waterways led outside. Alfred swam around in them, the water feeling far more secure than any water on the open sea, and he soon was mostly content with staying by Arthur, since he was fed, and could stay wet while he was indoors with him.

Merpeople would occasionally come looking for him, asking him about how he was, who he was. It was strange. These people seemed to know more about him than he knew about himself.

He was, apparently, the heir to the Atlantic. His mother was descended from a bloodline of highly coveted mer, whose blood and genes were known for producing the best mer, the fastest, the smartest- those who were the rulers of the sea itself.

It had been centuries since the oceans had been ruled as one, as one older mermaid explained to him, clicking reminiscently. She had only been a girl when the great oceans were split amongst the Ocean King's children. His mother was one of the descendants, and had inherited the Atlantic Ocean.

And Alfred, who had just matured into adulthood and secured his place as _heir_ , was the next in line to rule the ocean he had spent his entire life in.

His royal blood would prolong his life, she had explained. "Far longer than any other F2 could manage- longer than F3, and F4 as well, I would suspect." The woman smiled a bit. "Though that is not to fear. You will also have access to powers beyond the dreams of any other mer. This makes you incredibly desirable as a mate now that you have matured into an adult."

"Why does it matter, that I'm an adult now?" Alfred asked, curious.

The mermaid sighed. "Well, had you been killed before you reached sexual maturity, you no longer would be her heir. Her second born would become so, though their powers would be dim in comparison to what you could have been."

Alfred nodded, overwhelmed. He had some sorta special ability…but he had no idea how the fuck it worked, or how he could use it. Great. That was peachy. Though it made sense why his mom had always referred to him like that. She rarely ever called him Alfred, even now.

Most full-blooded mer didn't choose names. Hence, how she didn't have one and how she rarely referred to Alfred by his. But, it was interesting. How did his mother, someone who had royal blood and could pass on her title and abilities to anyone in the whole wide ocean, pass it onto someone like the child of Alfred's father.

Similarly, why was Alfred only just born, if his mother had been alive so long? Did she choose to not have children? How had his father changed that?

Why was the heir to an entire fucking _ocean_ him- an F2?

The mermaid laughed a bit, amused by his confusion. "Love makes people do very silly things, young child." She whistled, cheeky with the young boy. "Your mother must have loved your father, and admired him so much that he proved himself worthy in a way other than genetics."

Alfred nodded, agreeing with her, before he swam back to Arthur's room, thinking hard on what it must have been like for them, all those years ago.

He wished that he remembered his father better, that he could see what his mother had in the F1 that had made his offspring a worthy choice of being her firstborn and heir. But his death had been 11 years ago, and there had been plenty of struggles between then and now.

And so, Alfred sat in his room, waiting for the doctor to come in. It was time to remove the tube, and give Arthur some time to explain what had gone wrong. Arthur looked tired, but he no longer looked on the very edge of death, but it was clear he would have to be taken care of a bit longer, since they had to do psych evaluations and stuff that Alfred didn't really understand, but they had explained to him as being important to judging damage to Arthur's mind from the dehydration and starvation- but Alfred was also informed they would look into the "actions" Arthur had taken against Alfred.

The doctor came in shortly after Alfred's arrival, and called the man out of the water, telling him to wake up Arthur, if that wouldn't be too hard.

Alfred gently squeezed his shoulder, gently waking him up. The human opened his eyes, looking sleepy still, but seemed amicable to the idea of getting the tube removed.

Alfred allowed Arthur to grip him as they removed the feeding device, which Alfred had been told was an incredibly uncomfortable thing, and then the doctor left, saying to stay put- there would be someone else in a moment or two.

In the meanwhile, F1 and F2 nurses who giggled at Alfred, female hybrids that were unable to mate but could still appreciate his build in form and status in his scent, pulled up chairs for him, and a doctor, while Arthur was propped up on his bed, the human opening his mouth and licking his lips.

"I've needed to do that since I woke up." Arthur said, voice raspy, looking to Alfred with a raised eyebrow. "Who's coming in?" He asked, him, coughing a bit.

"They called the other person a "psych eval"." Alfred said, shrugging his shoulders. "This hospital is pretty weird." Alfred murmured. "It's run by humans, and hybrids. Mer also, but I've not gone down to those floors yet." He pointed to the floor, and Arthur's eyes widened as he saw the water pathways. "It's so that people with tails may move around as well. I thought it was pretty cool."

Arthur looked around, confused. "Alfred…? Where's…your brother?" He blinked, confused.

Alfred clenched his hands together, looking away. "Ah…. well. He grew old enough…that he no longer needed to be around me." He said, licking his lips in nervousness. "He went undoubtedly to live with other mer his age. He's only 2 generations from full mer, just as I am only 2 generations from full human."

"You've…you've been alone then…?" Arthur asked, frowning. "I'm….I'm sorry, Alfred…" He said, sympathizing with him.

"It's…its fine, Arthur." He smiled weakly. "I've been alone before. It's just weird now…because there are so many beings who are concentrated in one area, who aren't interested in killing me…"

And the human laughed a bit. "Well, I suppose that's because this is America...right?" He murmured, his voice still hoarse.

"That's what they say. 'Welcome to D.C., the City of Diplomacy.' Whatever that means, anyway." Alfred sighed.

Arthur nodded, and they waited together, once again.

XXXXX

A/N: Cackling. I did specify that Alfred and Arthur lived in Europe. America is very different from Europe, and since a lot of techs been lost since the apocalypse, its no wonder to imagine that they're very different in terms of how mer have been integrated into society.

In American society, D.C. is one of the only major cities that are still above sea level! It's a home of diplomacy for the species out there, and it's used as a welcoming ground for the complex man-made waterways that have been built to accommodate the changing structure of modern society (with the rising number of those who have mer blood and the falling number of pure humans).

Along w/ the hospital, Alfred will discover there's a government building w/ waterways, along w/ a market u could boat or swim through right near the coastline and hotels, apartments, and houses.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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